Atyrau Region
Kazakhstan Regions

This is a paradise for waterfowl. Only air-cushioned watercraft are permitted here. Flocks of swans, ducks and geese sweep over the heads of astonished tourists, struck by their number. Atyrau is the administrative center of the region. The city and region have a long-established history. Their first records date back to the 3-4^th centuries BC. The city chronicle started in 1640. The port on the Ural River, founded by the Guriev brothers, Russian merchants, has grown into modern Atyrau, Kazakhstan's biggest oil and gas production center and a fast-growing investment center. This is a harsh land, although generous and beautiful in its own way.

Atyrau (formerly Guriev) is a port on Caspian Sea and a pier on the Ural River (formerly Guriev as well). Fishermen founded it as fishing settlement at the mouth of Ural in 1615. In 1992 it was renamed in Atyrau. At the beginning of the 20^th century fishing was the only branch of the economy in the provincial yuezd town of Guriev.

Then the railway, which was situated not far from the spot where the Ural flows into the Caspian Sea, had a big influence on the development of the town. The town is situated on two continents: the Samarskaya side (the right bank of the Ural River) is in Europe, and Bukharskaya (the left bank) is in Asia.

The employer Mikhail Guriev founded it in 1615, having asked Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich for a decree for the monopoly right to fish for sturgeon in the mouth of Ural, however he was obligated to build the town's fortifications for defense from raids and to deliver red caviar to the Tsar. In 1668 Stepan Razin owned Guriev. Today's population is about 140,000.

The town was built on the Seashore, which now has receded a distance of 25-30 km. The first oil refineries and production facilites in Kazakhstan were built here and the largest fish tinned plant in the Republic was also built here. Today Atyrau has become the center of the oil industry of the Ural-Embensky region.

The grave of the Kazakh people's composer Kurmangazy Sagyrbayev (1806-1879) is located in Atyrau; the town Saraidzhuk (16^th - 17^th cc.), not far from where the routes from Europe and Asia crossed, is situated 50 km north of town.

The Caspian Sea is the largest closed reservoir in the world, which washes against the western part of Kazakhstan. The name of the Sea is connected with the Caspii tribes, who had settled these shores from time immemorial. It had had such names as Girkanskoye, Khazarskoye, and Khvalynskoye.

The first mention of the Caspian Sea and its tribes were in the works of Gerodot. The document on the Russian navigators' visit to the Caspian Sea dates back to the 9^th - 10^th centuries. At the beginning of the 18^th century Peter I began constant exploration of the Caspian Sea (through the expeditions of Bekovich-Cherkasky A. and others).

Next, Soimonov I. F., Ivashinsev N. A., Pallas P. S., Gmelin S. G., Karelin G. S., and others explored the region. The Caspian Sea stretches 1200 km from north to south; its median width is 320 km, and length of its shore line is about 7000 km (6000 km of which is among the territory of Russia and other countries).

Joint project of OrexCA.com and KTA & KAGIR. Information is taken from the CD "All about tourism in Kazakhstan"